Iran’s export to Africa rose 40% in past 5 months
The value of Iran’s export to Africa rose 40 percent in the first five months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-August 22), as compared to the same period last year, according to government data.
The figures were announced by last week by Iran’s Customs Administration (IRICA).
IRICA spokesman Ruhollah Latifi stated that developing relations with other countries, including 55 African countries, and being present in their markets is one of the policies of the 13th Iranian government.
He made the remarks in a meeting in Tehran to examine the business opportunities of Iran and the African continent,
“Last year we saw the growth of trade with the African continent; we exported to 50 countries and imported from 18 countries, and in the first five months of this year, exports grew 40 percent to 55 countries and imports rose 147 percent”, he added.
The IRICA spokesman further put Iran-Africa five-month trade at 1.354 million tons valued at $741.122 million, of which the share of Iran’s export was 1.311 million tons worth $696.731 million, and the country’s import was 42,629 tons valued at $44.391 million.
The official named South Africa Mozambique, Sudan, Nigeria, and Ghana as the main export destinations and Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa, Congo, and Ghana as the major sources of imports from Iran among the African countries in the first five months of the present year.
Head of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) Alireza Peyman-Pak has said the country is taking the necessary steps to increase annual trade exchanges with African countries to $5 billion by the Iranian calendar year 1404 (begins in March 2025).
Peyman-Pak said the trade with the mentioned countries is expected to reach $2.5 billion by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2023).
Peyman-Pak put the share of African countries in Iran's export basket at $1.2 billion, saying: "Africa's annual imports amount to about $580 billion and our share of this figure is still small despite all the efforts. We have managed to export $1.2 billion to this market."
He further mentioned the capacities of the mentioned continent for the export of technical and engineering services and said: "The total exports of technical and engineering services to Africa is currently $300 billion; But our share last year, despite a slight increase reached only $200 million, which is still small.”
According to the TPO head, in order to increase the level of trade with Africa certain infrastructure including transportation and direct shipping lines, as well as proper legal, commercial, monetary, and banking relations must be provided, and TPO has been recently focusing on providing such requirements to facilitate trade with Africa.
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